Between the Sound

An American cellist and composer: who writes music for orchestra and chamber ensembles, a bandleader of original music and a beatboxer combining and defining his own sonic lane.With New Orleans as his musical base, a city having huge influence on his playing, he nowadays shares time across the pond in the UK, primarily London and Manchester. His sights are firmly set on further touring in Europe and evolving musical connections in Africa.

An award winning independent music artist, singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist, music producer and videographer, this London based creative grew up in Nottingham UK. Self taught on piano and guitar, he was to discover a love for fully crafting his own material from conception to production and everything in between. Solidifying his skills at Paul McCartney’s Performing Arts Institute LIPA in Liverpool, saw him write two musicals and record his first solo album before arriving in London to pursue long held musical dreams. As an ever evolving queer artist with inspirational pop icons surcharging his self expression, the big city in the early naughties proved a resistant force in his honest lyrics and themes gaining any commercial appeal. And so, shunning the corporate cats with a firm belief that art comes from a place of truth, he did it his way, retaining creative control by launching his own record label - Young Lust Records, learning the music biz from the ground up. Having carved a niche with his own brand of queer themed rock music and videos, exciting collaborations and projects soon followed, along with a strong online audience and international fan base garnering millions of YouTube views and viral videos, capturing the supportive eye of much loved English actor, broadcaster, writer, comedian and director Stephen Fry. Combining elements of rock, punk, alternative, pop and visual storytelling with a theatrical flair, his songs are candid in dealing with the joys, pains and experiences of gay identity. As an LGBTQ+ advocate and activist his expressions are unashamedly positive and celebratory with humorous yet acerbic commentary on institutional homophobia within the entertainment industry. Quirky, heart-warming and political. Fifteen years and four studio albums deep, his work has involved an international roster of film directors, illustrators and visual artists to bring his stories to life with an award winning debut album Not Thinking Straight and follow up Cover Boy co-produced with Mark Crew of Bastille and Rag n Bone Man credits, and has had his work featured in Gay Times, Attitude and Out Magazines. Alongside further nods from actor Tom Hiddleston, LGBtQ+ activist Peter Tatchell & legendary songwriter and producer Jim Steinman. With his latest album Tales of Queer Suburbia set for release in early 2025, this is someone making waves in the wonderful world of queer.

This London born drummer started his music career in the mid 80s as drummer and co founder of cult space-rock band Ozric Tentacles. Juggling a busy gig and festival schedule along with art school commitments, he completed his degree at Middlesex Polytechnic in graphic design and then promptly returned to music. His influences range from John Bonham, Phil Colins, Sly Dunbar, Steve Gadd, Billy Cobbam, Bernard Purdie, Alphonse Mouson, Jeff Poccaro, Tony Williams and Lenny White. Joining Acid Jazz act The Sandals as lead guitarist in 1990 saw tours follow and soon after he was introduced to Acid Jazz’ new signing Jamiroquai completing frontman JK’s new live band line up as their drummer. The band was quickly signed to Sony and he went on to record on the classic chart topping debut Emergency on Planet Earth LP playing drums, some guitar and co-writing the song If I Like It I Do It. A hectic schedule of touring and worldwide promotion followed, including the release of singles Too Young To Die, Blow Your Mind and Emergency on Planet Earth. Leaving the band in 94 and together with musician mates, funky guitar maverick from The Brand New Heavies Simon Bartholomew and bass player Nick Seymour, they formed the supergroup Akimbo also signed to Acid Jazz label. The band headlined Londons’ Soho Jazz festival two years running appearing at Ronnie Scotts and Madame JoJo’s Deep funk sessions hosted by legendary rare funk Dj and collector Keb Darge. By 1999 Nick and Keb Darge started their own independent label Deep Funk Records. Other collaborations include soul jazz keyboardist Jessica Lauren, Nu soul prodigies Vannessa Simon and Omar, FBI, Raw Deal and The Superphonics. Countless gigs, sessions and jams continue to this day with many of Londons top funk and soul musicians.

Raised in the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia, she oozes style and creativity. With an early interest in fashion, design and art, she left school to work for top advertising agency Mojo. Soon after marrying and starting a much desired family, she was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's in her twenties and dedicated her future to raising two equally artistic daughters and advocating her health experiences for people living with her condition, positively impacting her community far and wide. Her reach has been instrumental as a participant in a pioneering Parkinson's drug trial under the leadership of principal neurologist Dr Victor Fung. This groundbreaking and newly approved device recently named VYALEV was funded through pharmaceutical company ABBVIE, also involved in other major groundbreaking Parkinson’s genetic scientific research trials through Neura Australia with significant funding through the Michael J Fox organisation.’ It has over the past three years been the answer to her regaining her mobility and giving her life back. With featured interviews on major television news channels she has now, along with a handful of selected inclusivity models, walked the esteemed Australian Fashion week for multi-disciplinary designer Jordan Gogos in his latest collection and further interviewing for and gracing both Vogue and Harpers Bazaar editorials. Ever keen to give back, her volunteering efforts have been awe inspiring including three years at the Sydney Writers' Festival, perfectly suited to this bookwork with her instagram page Books to Beaches spanning a plethora of publications, in particular shining a deserved light on home grown Australian authors. There are not enough adjectives to adequately praise and present this super woman but to say she is....a woman, a mother, an artist, a friend, an inspiration and a survivor.

A singer, songwriter and performer raised in South East London and with Nigerian roots, her inspirations extend from an eclectic pool of legends as Jimi Hendrix, Sly & The Family Stone and Led Zeppelin as well as Dr John, Prince and Skunk Anansie.. Founder and leader of the floating musical collective Ese & The Vooduu People, her live shows are all encompassing and enthralling. With no gig the same, improvisation is the name of her game. A gifted songwriter and imaginative interpreter, she is signed to independent label Quadrafon Music Industries having recorded a number of digital singles, live albums, and three full length albums. Her debut ‘Up in Smoke’ completed in 2018 was released in 2019, followed by a digital live album ‘The Secret Session released later that year, highlighting her as a solo artist and recorded in an intimate London club setting. Steadily releasing music since then, including a series of jazz-tinged singles, a new recording of her song ‘Dynamite’ will feature in the upcoming Lena Dunham Netflix series ‘Too Much’ due to air in late 2024/early 2025.

This celebrated British jazz pianist, songwriter and record producer was labelled a veteran by critics at age 19 and over the following decade won most of the major jazz music awards. Born in Surrey and raised in Wandsworth London, he was classically trained and attended the Guildhall School of Music . Emerging in the late 80s as a jazz pianist and influenced by Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner, he recorded three solo albums in his early 20s and his debut album A Clearer View in 1990 was produced by his dream choice of Wayne Shorter. This led to him appearing on the cover of The Wire magazine. He additionally worked with Jean Toussaint, Tommy Smith, and Branford Marsalis In the late 90’s Sting invited him to join his band following the death of Kenny Kirkland which saw him tour with Sting for the next six years and recording three albums. He then became a member of Jeff Beck's band, touring for six years and recording a further three albums. During these years he also worked with Chaka Khan, Des'ree, Mica Paris, Carleen Anderson, Manu Katché, Phil Collins, and Peter Gabriel In 2013 after twelve years of touring as a session musician he reestablished himself as a solo artist and soon after, released the album Anything But Look on Lyte Records featuring Will Downing, Omar, Joy Rose, Jacob Collier, Tim Garland and Pino Palladino. He teaches music at Guildhall School of Music and Bath Spa University and additionally composes music for the London-based production music library, Audio Network.

A Berlin native and worldly explorative creator in music, dance, songwriting and rap. A music producer with visionary curations as the hugely successful online music series Live at Belmont Villa.

An American jazz violinist and multi Grammy Award-winning member of Snarky Puppy, gained through 12 years of touring & recording with the genre-bending super group. He has toured with Stanley Clarke and Phil Markowitz, released seven solo albums, and was named "Rising Star Violinist" of 2013 by Downbeat Magazine. A passionate educator, Zach has coached hundreds of musicians from workshops to conservatories worldwide.

Born in Niort, France he started playing drums at age 14 before making a move to London to graduate from the London College of Music with a Popular Music Performance degree. Since then he has juggled a drumming career playing and recording for the likes of George Fitzgerald, Alice Russell, Joey Negro, Odyssey and many more, whilst maintaining a hectic schedule as DJ and electronic music producer GIOM with over 100 remixes and 40 EPs released to date. Competent with music software as Ableton Live and Logic Pro both on stage and in the studio, he writes and produces bespoke music for the likes of Ninja Tune, Audio Network and Extreme Music for Universal/Sony and is an endorser of Paiste Cymbals. Since 2015 his main focus has been on his own band PREP which, since their first song Cheapest Flight was released, has gained incredible popularity in South-East Asia, regularly touring and ranking 10s of millions of plays on Spotify and Youtube.

This London born singer-songwriter with Anglo/Trinidadian roots is a jazz vocalist with oodles of creative expression and New York as her home. Described as ‘very moving’, ‘an extraordinary talent’ and ‘a true musician’, her style of jazz evokes Andalusian Spain, North Africa, the Middle East and Celtic folk. With an earlier successful career as an international features journalist for magazines and newspapers, she evolved to devote herself to music and over the past two decades has firmly established herself amongst glorious jazz excellence to release 5 stand out albums along with a plethora of accolades as London Sunday Times Jazz Record of the Year, Jay Hunter’s Best Vocal Disc and NPR Critics Poll. From adding original lyrics to instrumental jazz standards and reimagining classic British rock, her artistry has gone from strength to strength taking her on multiple sold out tours of the philharmonic halls of Russia, the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola and the Blue Note. Alongside London’s Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express and London and Edinburgh Jazz Festivals. To quote Los Angeles-based guitarist, Larry Koonse: “She has great time, beautiful phrasing, gorgeous sound, a respect for silence, an emotional connection to the moment and a wonderful ability to tell a story. She is the ‘real thing’ in every way.”